Aristomenes' Escape

Although the Spartans believed Aristomenes was dead, they were very wrong. By some miracle, he had not struck any of the sharp, jagged rocks, but landed on a pile of his dead companions and reached the bottom of the Ceadas unharmed.

There was apparently no way out of this pit except through the opening at the top, where a bit of sky could be seen. Aristomenes soon found the sides so steep that reaching the opening was impossible. He moved to one side, away from the heap of dead, and sat down on a stone in that cold, damp, dark place. Drawing his cloak over his head, he prepared to wait patiently until he starved to death. Three days passed, and his strength was fast failing when he suddenly felt a warm breath on his hand.

He softly pulled aside his cloak, and now that his eyes were used to the darkness, he dimly saw a fox prowling around him, sniffing his clothes suspiciously.

Gently wrapping his cloak around his hand to protect it from the fox's sharp teeth, Aristomenes caught the animal firmly by the tail. Despite all its efforts to escape, he held tight. When it started to move, he followed.

As he had shrewdly guessed, the fox knew a way out of the horrible place. Suddenly it slipped into a hole. Aristomenes, seeing a faint light at the end, let the fox go. With the help of a sharp stone, he soon enlarged the fox's hole enough to crawl through, and quickly made his way back to the Messenians.

You can imagine how happy they were to see the beloved leader they thought dead, and how tenderly they cared for him until he was well and strong again. They never tired of hearing the story of his fall, imprisonment, and escape. When he offered to lead them once more against the Spartans, they gladly promised to help.

Despite all of Aristomenes' courage, however, Messenia eventually fell into the hands of the Spartans, and the Second Messenian War ended. All who wished to escape slavery or death left their native country and went to Italy or Sicily, where they founded Greek colonies.

The cities they built soon became very powerful. One of them they named Messina in honor of their native land. That city still stands, as you can see on your maps, and near it is the strait of the same name, which separates Sicily from Italy.